Army Leadership Levels

A good leader in the United States Army is made-up of several different essential characteristics. As soon to become leaders in our profession, is our individual responsibility to know, understand and apply these characteristics in the way we conduct ourselves every day. Because we are the role models for soldiers to follow not only in our job but also in our personal life. Stewardship of the Army profession in one of these mayor characteristics of a good leader in our career. Being a steward of the profession, focuses in three mayor traits: character, competence and commitment.

The Army's definition of leadership is “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.” An army leader is anyone who inspires and influences people to accomplish their goals. Leaders motivate people both inside and outside the army to help them pursue their goals, focus thinking, and shape decisions for the better of the army. Leadership can be acquired by anyone as long as they have the self-determination to do so. The main principles of leadership in the army are broken down in to the acronym LDRSHIP (loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, personal courage), characteristics the army aims to instilled in each

To be a leader, you need a variety of skills. Providing one of them being, intelligence; if you desire to be a leader, you must be intelligent in what you are leading. For example, you can't go out and lead a group of hikers if you have no idea where you're going, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll get them lost. There are many forms of leadership, those including: leading through something, being in charge with responsibility, or even helping someone through a hard time. Each one of these requires some leadership.

Leadership begins with the desire to improve something and with an idea how to make improvements, whether it is making physical things, accomplishing a mission or rearing children. To learn leadership, you first need to learn to be an individual contributor and follow. I learned that in the Army’s basic training which provided the basic issues that causing people to be motivated to do what you want them to do when normally they would make other choices. The first year in the army was growing from following to leading in small steps ending with becoming an officer almost exactly one year after I was inducted into the Army. Throughout my working life I participated in the three levels of leadership as annotated by Figure

One important expression for army leadership is BE-KNOW-DO. Army leadership begins with what the leader must BE, the values and attributes that shape character. A leader can think of these as internal and defining qualities possessed all the time. As defining qualities, they make up the identity of the leader. Values and attributes are the same for all leaders, regardless of position, although refined through experience and assumption of positions of greater responsibility. For example, a sergeant major with combat experience may have a deeper understanding of selfless service and personal courage than a new soldier.

Ref. (a) According to Bass (1981) leadership can be defined in different ways: It is an act of influencing activities of an organized group in its quest to set goals and also to achieve certain goals. He also defined leadership to mean the influence that somebody exercises in a situation by means of communication in order to attain a specified goal. However in order to be a leader you require a variety of qualities. There is no one specific quality that makes one person a better leader; it’s more of a compilation of traits building an ideology as to how you as leaders handle situations. The traits I try and to reflect on as are; Self-assurance, maturity, high energy, team orientation, and charisma. As a leader I try to incorporate these traits along with the philosophy of an old Chinese Proverb; Tell me, I’ll forget, show me, I’ll remember, Involve me, I’ll understand. This reminds me that not everyone learns of understands situations the same way, I must as a leader be-able to reach the masses to have followers.

Organizations depend on the management and leadership skills of individuals in order to be successful. Leaders do not have to be managers but are equally important. Leaders are individuals who possess traits, behavior and abilities to influence others to accomplish tasks and other needed objectives for the company. Leadership is defined as “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization. . . .” (House et al., 1999, pg. 184).

The very essence of leadership is having vision to influence followers so that they show willingness to change, leaders need a specific set of skills to guide their actions. The skills can be thought of as the inner tools for motivating employees, systems and processes to direct and guide the organization towards common goals that enable it to achieve its mission. Leadership requires personality enthusiasm, integrity, self-renewal. Leaders possess attributes (beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, courage and skills) that make people feel proud to follow. They provide a sense of confidence and can rally the troops and morale when there are difficulties. Leaders take responsibility when the situation demands it and do the right things done on time, know that even mistakes can be learning opportunities. They provide an analysis of the performance, preparation and assistance for professional development of

A leader needs to “believe” in oneself and have the confidence that whatever you say will excite and what you do can motivate others. You must be optimistic about what you do, do have some relevance for being in existence. Believe it or not, “leadership begins with you”.

My idea of leadership is being able to inspire others, motivate, set a vision, communicate, respect others, and of course, lead by example. A leader must have an honest understanding of who they are, what they know, and what they are capable of. To be a successful leader, you have to be able to convince your followers, not just yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed. In my opinion, this can build confidence in their followers to have faith in you, in order to be able to lead. I strongly believe that good leaders are made rather, and not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders are developed through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and

Leadership is one of the hidden qualities in the personality of an individual. It is complicated and challenging to for human nature to grade an individual depending on one’s personality. Leadership is founded on the organic structure of the personality such as responsibility, social interaction, skill, experience and the power of organizing people. Effective leadership is the ability of a leader to imaginatively guides, directs, and influences other peoples. The leader can achieve through meditating between organization and individuals in the manner that both parties involved would achieve maximum satisfaction. The role of a leader is to get his or her people from where they are to where they have not been before. What makes an effective leader is the intelligence and power an individual has to create and understand the position he or she holds and know what to represent to the people. A leader has to fight for what he or she believes, can do, and defend anything against him or her (Shirey, 2010).

Extraordinary leaders possess empathic skills; are confident, optimistic, and honest; have a strong sense of focus and inspiration; embody personal courage and resilience; and readily display respect, integrity and humility. Extraordinary leaders are committed to making positive differences by using effective decision making skills; by employing self-reflective practices; by remaining cognizant and aware of the systems they have developed; and by being totally accountable for their actions. Leaders in today’s Army, “influence their organizations to accomplish missions. Today’s Army leaders “act decisively, within the higher commander’s intent, and in the best interest of the organization” regardless of where they fall in the leadership continuum. (ADP 6-0 Mission Command

A leader needs to know about the human nature, and be able to direct people towards goals, as well as reducing the group 's doubts about succeeding. Some people believe that a leader is born that way and there is no way, practicing or studying, to create a leader. However, I believe inside of each one of us there is a leader waiting to be awakened and holding on to an opportunity to come out. There are several qualities to be a successful leader I learned from the readings and class lectures.

Leadership arises in different situations with all being a variety of characteristics and traits. While there are a variety of connotations and denotations of the word leadership, one can say that an effective leader doesn’t necessarily need to have all the traits that a great leader needs to have, but only possessing the traits of being able to direct individuals into the correct path, being ethical and having high moral values, and being loyal.

Desire, determination, effectiveness, passion, management skills, being able to inspire, positive attitude, knowing who you are, what to do or not; these are all characteristics of a leader . “Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.” (Concept of Leadership, 2010). In this 21st century world we are living in and with all the complex changes happening and the many ways businesses are being conducted and operated, leadership skills are definitely needed but are becoming more and more challenging to obtain because leadership is a process which is put in place in order to influence a group